The 1990 case of Employment Division v. Smith was decided against the defendants, but when analyzed using casuistry it is found to be an easy case for upholding their free exercise right. The state ...
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The 1990 case of Employment Division v. Smith was decided against the defendants, but when analyzed using casuistry it is found to be an easy case for upholding their free exercise right. The state lacked specific expert testimony and hard data against the use of sacramental peyote, while the evidence produced by the Native American Church's experts showed that the Native American Church was successful in fulfilling the paradigmatic goals of the War on Drugs (no addiction, productive lives, etc.) and that the nonaddictive sacramental peyote lacked the same social harms endemic to addictive drugs (illegal market traffic, gangs, etc.). The Court, however, ignored the particulars of the case and fixated solely on the illegality of the ingestion of peyote. Accordingly, the particulars are explored in great detail, placing the facts in their larger, societal contexts and highlighting the Court's conclusive presumption and radical deference to the state and total disregard of the facts and other particulars both of the defendants’ unemployment compensation context and of the Native American Church and its practices.Less

A Critique of the Court's Free Exercise Clause Jurisprudence in the U.S. Supreme Court Case of Employment Division v. Smith

Catharine Cookson

Published in print: 2001-05-03

The 1990 case of Employment Division v. Smith was decided against the defendants, but when analyzed using casuistry it is found to be an easy case for upholding their free exercise right. The state lacked specific expert testimony and hard data against the use of sacramental peyote, while the evidence produced by the Native American Church's experts showed that the Native American Church was successful in fulfilling the paradigmatic goals of the War on Drugs (no addiction, productive lives, etc.) and that the nonaddictive sacramental peyote lacked the same social harms endemic to addictive drugs (illegal market traffic, gangs, etc.). The Court, however, ignored the particulars of the case and fixated solely on the illegality of the ingestion of peyote. Accordingly, the particulars are explored in great detail, placing the facts in their larger, societal contexts and highlighting the Court's conclusive presumption and radical deference to the state and total disregard of the facts and other particulars both of the defendants’ unemployment compensation context and of the Native American Church and its practices.

The War on Drugs started when baby boomers entered young adulthood, and it escalated into the most intense and systemic punitive response to nonviolent criminals ever seen in modern history, fueling ...
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The War on Drugs started when baby boomers entered young adulthood, and it escalated into the most intense and systemic punitive response to nonviolent criminals ever seen in modern history, fueling gang warfare and criminal activity. This decades-long drug war turned drug-experimenting adolescents and functional adult users into lifelong hard drug users and hardened criminals. It made an underclass of disenfranchised felons who could not vote and were often excluded from employment, housing, education, job training, or any possibility of supporting themselves legally for the rest of their lives. It intensified racial discrimination and devastated minority communities. Its mechanism was mass incarceration, a prison industrial complex funded by frightened taxpayers, but paradoxically increasing drug use and drug crime. It led to police corruption; unethical criminal justice practices, such as confidential informants and solitary confinement; and unjust laws, such as mandatory sentencing and “three strikes and you’re out.” The stories recounted in this chapter question the motivation behind the War on Drugs and stimulate reflection on how the lives of drug users might have been different if the money had been spent on mental health research instead of law enforcement or on social services instead of juvenile reformatories and jails.Less

The War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration

Miriam Boeri

Published in print: 2017-11-07

The War on Drugs started when baby boomers entered young adulthood, and it escalated into the most intense and systemic punitive response to nonviolent criminals ever seen in modern history, fueling gang warfare and criminal activity. This decades-long drug war turned drug-experimenting adolescents and functional adult users into lifelong hard drug users and hardened criminals. It made an underclass of disenfranchised felons who could not vote and were often excluded from employment, housing, education, job training, or any possibility of supporting themselves legally for the rest of their lives. It intensified racial discrimination and devastated minority communities. Its mechanism was mass incarceration, a prison industrial complex funded by frightened taxpayers, but paradoxically increasing drug use and drug crime. It led to police corruption; unethical criminal justice practices, such as confidential informants and solitary confinement; and unjust laws, such as mandatory sentencing and “three strikes and you’re out.” The stories recounted in this chapter question the motivation behind the War on Drugs and stimulate reflection on how the lives of drug users might have been different if the money had been spent on mental health research instead of law enforcement or on social services instead of juvenile reformatories and jails.

This chapter describes Florida state officials’ compliance with the court order to reduce prison overcrowding. Civil Rights lawyers had high hopes that prison conditions litigation would reduce ...
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This chapter describes Florida state officials’ compliance with the court order to reduce prison overcrowding. Civil Rights lawyers had high hopes that prison conditions litigation would reduce Florida’s reliance on imprisonment. Initially legislators opposed building new prisons and passed sentencing guidelines meant to slow the growth of prison admissions. This chapter answers why, less than ten years later, Florida officials decided to comply with the court order by building more prisons, rather than finding alternatives to incarceration. It argues that when prison admissions began to soar because of the War on Drugs, Republican Governor Bob Martinez used the threat of releasing inmates early to overcome legislators’ reservations about high prison costs, appropriate prison sites, and the limits of prison rehabilitation. The chapter reconsiders the effect of national crime control politics, crime, and punitive public opinion on state lawmakers’ decisions to expand prison capacity during the 1980s.Less

The Unintended Consequences of Prison Litigation, 1980–1991

Heather Schoenfeld

Published in print: 2018-02-19

This chapter describes Florida state officials’ compliance with the court order to reduce prison overcrowding. Civil Rights lawyers had high hopes that prison conditions litigation would reduce Florida’s reliance on imprisonment. Initially legislators opposed building new prisons and passed sentencing guidelines meant to slow the growth of prison admissions. This chapter answers why, less than ten years later, Florida officials decided to comply with the court order by building more prisons, rather than finding alternatives to incarceration. It argues that when prison admissions began to soar because of the War on Drugs, Republican Governor Bob Martinez used the threat of releasing inmates early to overcome legislators’ reservations about high prison costs, appropriate prison sites, and the limits of prison rehabilitation. The chapter reconsiders the effect of national crime control politics, crime, and punitive public opinion on state lawmakers’ decisions to expand prison capacity during the 1980s.

This chapter analyzes the major trends in drug trafficking and organized crime in the region. It explores the consequences of the U.S.-led war on drugs in the Americas and provides an excellent ...
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This chapter analyzes the major trends in drug trafficking and organized crime in the region. It explores the consequences of the U.S.-led war on drugs in the Americas and provides an excellent overview of the major tendencies and obstacles that exist.Less

Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean in the Twenty-First Century : Challenges to Democracy

Bruce M. Bagley

Published in print: 2015-06-23

This chapter analyzes the major trends in drug trafficking and organized crime in the region. It explores the consequences of the U.S.-led war on drugs in the Americas and provides an excellent overview of the major tendencies and obstacles that exist.

Hurt: Chronicles of the Drug War Generation weaves engaging first-person accounts of baby boomer drug users, including the account of the author’s own brother, a heroin addict. The compelling stories ...
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Hurt: Chronicles of the Drug War Generation weaves engaging first-person accounts of baby boomer drug users, including the account of the author’s own brother, a heroin addict. The compelling stories are set in their historical context, from the cultural influence of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n' roll to the contemporary discourse that pegs drug addiction as a disease punished by incarceration. Boeri writes with penetrating insight and conscientious attention to the intersectionality of race, gender, and class as she analyzes the impact of an increasingly punitive War on Drugs on a hurting generation. The chapters narrate the life course of men and women who continued to use cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine after age thirty-five. They were supposed to stop drug use as they assumed adult roles in life—as the generation before them had—but the War on Drugs led to mass imprisonment of drug users, changing the social landscape of aging. As one former inmate hauntingly said, America’s drug policy left scars that may rival those of the slavery and genocide in America’s past. The findings call for new responses to drug use problems and strategies that go beyond coerced treatment programs and rehabilitation initiatives focused primarily on changing the person. Linking tales from the field with sociological perspectives, Boeri presents an exposé as disturbing as a dystopian dream, warning that future generations will have an even harder time maturing out of drug use if the War on Drugs is not stopped and social recovery efforts begun. The book ends with an appendix that details how the research was conducted, the data collected and analyzed, and the results were drawn. It describes the ethnographic methods, fieldwork, participant-recruitment strategies, and the innovative mixed method approach—a combination of data science techniques with qualitative data collection. It includes a description of the data visualization images used to illustrate each participant’s life and drug trajectory in graphic simplicity. This appendix offers insight into how to conduct careful quality control at each phase of data collection, team coding of the qualitative data, and why Boeri selected the stories to include in this book.Less

Hurt : Chronicles of the Drug War Generation

Miriam Boeri

Published in print: 2017-11-07

Hurt: Chronicles of the Drug War Generation weaves engaging first-person accounts of baby boomer drug users, including the account of the author’s own brother, a heroin addict. The compelling stories are set in their historical context, from the cultural influence of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n' roll to the contemporary discourse that pegs drug addiction as a disease punished by incarceration. Boeri writes with penetrating insight and conscientious attention to the intersectionality of race, gender, and class as she analyzes the impact of an increasingly punitive War on Drugs on a hurting generation. The chapters narrate the life course of men and women who continued to use cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamine after age thirty-five. They were supposed to stop drug use as they assumed adult roles in life—as the generation before them had—but the War on Drugs led to mass imprisonment of drug users, changing the social landscape of aging. As one former inmate hauntingly said, America’s drug policy left scars that may rival those of the slavery and genocide in America’s past. The findings call for new responses to drug use problems and strategies that go beyond coerced treatment programs and rehabilitation initiatives focused primarily on changing the person. Linking tales from the field with sociological perspectives, Boeri presents an exposé as disturbing as a dystopian dream, warning that future generations will have an even harder time maturing out of drug use if the War on Drugs is not stopped and social recovery efforts begun. The book ends with an appendix that details how the research was conducted, the data collected and analyzed, and the results were drawn. It describes the ethnographic methods, fieldwork, participant-recruitment strategies, and the innovative mixed method approach—a combination of data science techniques with qualitative data collection. It includes a description of the data visualization images used to illustrate each participant’s life and drug trajectory in graphic simplicity. This appendix offers insight into how to conduct careful quality control at each phase of data collection, team coding of the qualitative data, and why Boeri selected the stories to include in this book.

This chapter concentrates on federal prosecutions and the unique issues and problems they present. It begins by presenting the role of the federal prosecutor. The extent to which federal prosecutors ...
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This chapter concentrates on federal prosecutions and the unique issues and problems they present. It begins by presenting the role of the federal prosecutor. The extent to which federal prosecutors in individual offices follow the policies and procedures in the U.S. attorneys' manual depends largely on the U.S. attorney in charge of each office. In sum, although the U.S. attorneys' manual seems to establish meaningful policies governing a broad range of criminal issues, its unenforceability renders it largely ineffective as a means of regulating prosecutorial power and discretion. There is no phenomenon better that illustrates the dire consequences of the exercise of federal prosecutorial discretion than the “War on Drugs”. Moreover, the influence of Booker on prosecutorial power is addressed. In addition, the chapter examines some of the decisions made by Richard Thornburgh and John Ashcroft.Less

Federal Prosecutors and the Power of the Attorney General

Angela J. Davis

Published in print: 2009-04-24

This chapter concentrates on federal prosecutions and the unique issues and problems they present. It begins by presenting the role of the federal prosecutor. The extent to which federal prosecutors in individual offices follow the policies and procedures in the U.S. attorneys' manual depends largely on the U.S. attorney in charge of each office. In sum, although the U.S. attorneys' manual seems to establish meaningful policies governing a broad range of criminal issues, its unenforceability renders it largely ineffective as a means of regulating prosecutorial power and discretion. There is no phenomenon better that illustrates the dire consequences of the exercise of federal prosecutorial discretion than the “War on Drugs”. Moreover, the influence of Booker on prosecutorial power is addressed. In addition, the chapter examines some of the decisions made by Richard Thornburgh and John Ashcroft.

Chapter three examines countercultural entrepreneurs who sold paraphernalia for enhancing LSD trips or for smoking marijuana at small stores called head shops. Head shop owners hoped their stores ...
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Chapter three examines countercultural entrepreneurs who sold paraphernalia for enhancing LSD trips or for smoking marijuana at small stores called head shops. Head shop owners hoped their stores would provide hippies with desperately needed public spaces where they could gather in peace without being harassed. More importantly, these entrepreneurs believed their products allowed people to alter their minds – and even their societies – through meaningful drug use. In addition, many head shops collaborated with a small but growing movement to undermine, reform, and eradicate America’s drug laws, while also supporting the anti-war movement. Yet as head shops became increasingly popular, law enforcement, legislators, and parents’ groups assailed them as promoters of a dangerous drug culture with no redeeming social or political value. These attacks on head shops represented one of the first salvos in the cultural and legislative War on Drugs that would escalate in the 1980s.Less

The Business Of Getting High : Head Shops, Countercultural Capitalism, and the Battle Over Marijuana

Joshua Clark Davis

Published in print: 2017-08-08

Chapter three examines countercultural entrepreneurs who sold paraphernalia for enhancing LSD trips or for smoking marijuana at small stores called head shops. Head shop owners hoped their stores would provide hippies with desperately needed public spaces where they could gather in peace without being harassed. More importantly, these entrepreneurs believed their products allowed people to alter their minds – and even their societies – through meaningful drug use. In addition, many head shops collaborated with a small but growing movement to undermine, reform, and eradicate America’s drug laws, while also supporting the anti-war movement. Yet as head shops became increasingly popular, law enforcement, legislators, and parents’ groups assailed them as promoters of a dangerous drug culture with no redeeming social or political value. These attacks on head shops represented one of the first salvos in the cultural and legislative War on Drugs that would escalate in the 1980s.

Our progression toward humane treatment for some groups stretches across generations, illustrated in this chapter by the long U.S. history of dehumanizing and oppressing blacks from slavery through ...
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Our progression toward humane treatment for some groups stretches across generations, illustrated in this chapter by the long U.S. history of dehumanizing and oppressing blacks from slavery through Jim Crow and beyond. Although we may look back with disdain on past generations that enslaved or segregated blacks, this chapter questions whether we have fully humanized African Americans given the continued crisis in image, economic condition, and legal treatment of this group. Specifically, in light of the current mass-incarceration campaign directed at blacks as part of the War on Drugs, carried out by racial profiling, we might ask how far removed, if at all, we are from the oppressive days we supposedly abhor. The chapter begins the reparative work by suggesting legal reforms to surmount the current oppressions on what has proved to be the long road to humanity for African Americans.Less

From Slavery to the New Jim Crow of Mass Incarceration : The Ongoing Dehumanization of African Americans

Steven W. Bender

Published in print: 2015-01-09

Our progression toward humane treatment for some groups stretches across generations, illustrated in this chapter by the long U.S. history of dehumanizing and oppressing blacks from slavery through Jim Crow and beyond. Although we may look back with disdain on past generations that enslaved or segregated blacks, this chapter questions whether we have fully humanized African Americans given the continued crisis in image, economic condition, and legal treatment of this group. Specifically, in light of the current mass-incarceration campaign directed at blacks as part of the War on Drugs, carried out by racial profiling, we might ask how far removed, if at all, we are from the oppressive days we supposedly abhor. The chapter begins the reparative work by suggesting legal reforms to surmount the current oppressions on what has proved to be the long road to humanity for African Americans.

This chapter focuses on the issue of narcotics control. Cheap narcotics began to reach American troops in Vietnam; American cities were overwhelmed with a flood of drugs; and President Nixon declared ...
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This chapter focuses on the issue of narcotics control. Cheap narcotics began to reach American troops in Vietnam; American cities were overwhelmed with a flood of drugs; and President Nixon declared his War on Drugs in 1971. The drugs were coming from the Golden Triangle, a region that encompassed parts of Burma, Laos, and Thailand. Control of narcotics thus became the major American policy concern in Burma, and remained until the Burmese revolution of 1988. The United States provided modest assistance programs and continued its support of Burma's antinarcotics program. However, the antinarcotics program was controversial. The newly founded human rights organization, Project Maje, and its activist leader, Edith T. Mirante, conducted a protest against the use of herbicides in Burma, claiming that the chemicals were being used to wage a campaign of chemical terror against the Shans and other minorities.Less

The Narcotics Era

Kenton Clymer

Published in print: 2015-11-12

This chapter focuses on the issue of narcotics control. Cheap narcotics began to reach American troops in Vietnam; American cities were overwhelmed with a flood of drugs; and President Nixon declared his War on Drugs in 1971. The drugs were coming from the Golden Triangle, a region that encompassed parts of Burma, Laos, and Thailand. Control of narcotics thus became the major American policy concern in Burma, and remained until the Burmese revolution of 1988. The United States provided modest assistance programs and continued its support of Burma's antinarcotics program. However, the antinarcotics program was controversial. The newly founded human rights organization, Project Maje, and its activist leader, Edith T. Mirante, conducted a protest against the use of herbicides in Burma, claiming that the chemicals were being used to wage a campaign of chemical terror against the Shans and other minorities.

Pedro Quadrado, after participating in the conquest of Mexico and receiving a grant from the Spanish Crown, became the first person to cultivate cannabis in the Americas. This book outlines the ...
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Pedro Quadrado, after participating in the conquest of Mexico and receiving a grant from the Spanish Crown, became the first person to cultivate cannabis in the Americas. This book outlines the introduction of cannabis to Mexico and its journey through Mexican history. Originally a symbol for European imperial expansion, botanists also saw its potential value as a local drug plant. However, as hundreds of reports on its harmful effects emerged, cannabis eventually transformed into a frighteningly dangerous Mexican drug plant. The book describes the radical transformation of its meaning that occurred in Mexico between the sixteenth and twentieth century, and traces where in the plant's journey through Mexican history these changes occured. It attempts to explain marijuana's prohibition in Mexico, which is in itself a key to understanding the origins of the War on Drugs in the country and North America as a whole.Less

Introduction

Isaac Campos

Published in print: 2012-04-23

Pedro Quadrado, after participating in the conquest of Mexico and receiving a grant from the Spanish Crown, became the first person to cultivate cannabis in the Americas. This book outlines the introduction of cannabis to Mexico and its journey through Mexican history. Originally a symbol for European imperial expansion, botanists also saw its potential value as a local drug plant. However, as hundreds of reports on its harmful effects emerged, cannabis eventually transformed into a frighteningly dangerous Mexican drug plant. The book describes the radical transformation of its meaning that occurred in Mexico between the sixteenth and twentieth century, and traces where in the plant's journey through Mexican history these changes occured. It attempts to explain marijuana's prohibition in Mexico, which is in itself a key to understanding the origins of the War on Drugs in the country and North America as a whole.

The early 1970s also witnessed a series of profound shifts in American and Turkish policy on the opium trade. While Washington succeeded in compelling Ankara to impose a complete ban on opium ...
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The early 1970s also witnessed a series of profound shifts in American and Turkish policy on the opium trade. While Washington succeeded in compelling Ankara to impose a complete ban on opium production in the country (which lasted from 1971 to 1974), opiate smugglers in Turkey demonstrated a suppleness and flexibility that allowed the country’s narcotics underworld to survive and even flourish. By 1980, it was clear that more established, and newer, trafficking syndicates had begun to adapt to wider trends occurring in the global narcotics trade. A series of scandals that broke in the years immediately preceding and succeeding the 1980 military coup cast a spotlight on the ties the drug traffickers shared with Turkey’s influential radical right. It was also during this era that drug traffickers become more intertwined with Turkey’s influential radical right as well as the country’s powerful National Intelligence Service (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı or MİT).Less

The Great Turn: : The Transformation of Heroin and Organized Crime in the 1970s

Ryan Gingeras

Published in print: 2014-06-19

The early 1970s also witnessed a series of profound shifts in American and Turkish policy on the opium trade. While Washington succeeded in compelling Ankara to impose a complete ban on opium production in the country (which lasted from 1971 to 1974), opiate smugglers in Turkey demonstrated a suppleness and flexibility that allowed the country’s narcotics underworld to survive and even flourish. By 1980, it was clear that more established, and newer, trafficking syndicates had begun to adapt to wider trends occurring in the global narcotics trade. A series of scandals that broke in the years immediately preceding and succeeding the 1980 military coup cast a spotlight on the ties the drug traffickers shared with Turkey’s influential radical right. It was also during this era that drug traffickers become more intertwined with Turkey’s influential radical right as well as the country’s powerful National Intelligence Service (Milli İstihbarat Teşkilatı or MİT).

This chapter examines the murder of southern Arizonan rancher, Robter Krentz, and how it served as a political tipping point in the immigration debate in Arizona, leading to the passing of the ...
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This chapter examines the murder of southern Arizonan rancher, Robter Krentz, and how it served as a political tipping point in the immigration debate in Arizona, leading to the passing of the controversial immigration law known as Senate Bill 1070 (SB 1070). Amongst its tough anti-illegal immigrant measures, SB 1070 granted new sweeping powers to law enforcement agents to interrogate and arrest anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, causing some to say the law was drafted in a spirit of racism and xenophobia, while others claimed the law was a necessary and rational step in the effort to secure the border. The chapter looks at differing opinions of the bill, and the spirited debate that ensued across the nation in its wake, including a federal injunction to block the law, as a way to demonstrate how the U.S. is deeply divided over the issue of immigration. It also looks at the need for comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, and at the many interconnected reasons that such reform has proven difficult, including a brief philosophical discussion of the existential dilemmas inherent in the self-other encounter.Less

Senate Bill 1070: Wagers of Loveand Fear at the Border

Ananda Rose

Published in print: 2012-07-01

This chapter examines the murder of southern Arizonan rancher, Robter Krentz, and how it served as a political tipping point in the immigration debate in Arizona, leading to the passing of the controversial immigration law known as Senate Bill 1070 (SB 1070). Amongst its tough anti-illegal immigrant measures, SB 1070 granted new sweeping powers to law enforcement agents to interrogate and arrest anyone suspected of being in the country illegally, causing some to say the law was drafted in a spirit of racism and xenophobia, while others claimed the law was a necessary and rational step in the effort to secure the border. The chapter looks at differing opinions of the bill, and the spirited debate that ensued across the nation in its wake, including a federal injunction to block the law, as a way to demonstrate how the U.S. is deeply divided over the issue of immigration. It also looks at the need for comprehensive immigration reform at the federal level, and at the many interconnected reasons that such reform has proven difficult, including a brief philosophical discussion of the existential dilemmas inherent in the self-other encounter.

This chapter focuses on the nation’s War on Drugs and how this campaign affected the Middle District of Florida during the Reagan years. After a brief discussion of the advent of the Cali and ...
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This chapter focuses on the nation’s War on Drugs and how this campaign affected the Middle District of Florida during the Reagan years. After a brief discussion of the advent of the Cali and Medellin cartels, the impact of illegal cocaine importation into the district is discussed. The chapter then turns Congress’s passage of numerous federal crime statues written combat the drug war. The proliferation of federal statutes to combat crime placed added strain on the judiciary to keep pace with the growing flood of criminal cases in their courts. Several high profile drug prosecutions in the Middle District are addressed, including drug king pin, Carlos Lehder Rivas. Other major prosecutions are chronicled: Ronnie Lee Tape, Jeffrey Matthews, Denny McLain, and others. The chapter discusses the expanded federal law enforcement presence in Fort Myers, in an effort to combat the drug trade, as well as the coordination of county, state, and federal agencies in prosecuting drug cases. Finally, the chapter concludes with extensive coverage of the prosecution of conspirators associated with the Bank of Credit & Commerce International (BCCI), the first successful prosecution of global money laundering in American history.Less

Drugs, Drugs, and More Drugs, 1980–1988

James M. Denham

Published in print: 2015-06-09

This chapter focuses on the nation’s War on Drugs and how this campaign affected the Middle District of Florida during the Reagan years. After a brief discussion of the advent of the Cali and Medellin cartels, the impact of illegal cocaine importation into the district is discussed. The chapter then turns Congress’s passage of numerous federal crime statues written combat the drug war. The proliferation of federal statutes to combat crime placed added strain on the judiciary to keep pace with the growing flood of criminal cases in their courts. Several high profile drug prosecutions in the Middle District are addressed, including drug king pin, Carlos Lehder Rivas. Other major prosecutions are chronicled: Ronnie Lee Tape, Jeffrey Matthews, Denny McLain, and others. The chapter discusses the expanded federal law enforcement presence in Fort Myers, in an effort to combat the drug trade, as well as the coordination of county, state, and federal agencies in prosecuting drug cases. Finally, the chapter concludes with extensive coverage of the prosecution of conspirators associated with the Bank of Credit & Commerce International (BCCI), the first successful prosecution of global money laundering in American history.

This chapter discusses Milton Friedman’s writings on the topic of drug legalization and his efforts to end the “War on Drugs.” As a vocal advocate for drug legalization, Friedman brought the idea to ...
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This chapter discusses Milton Friedman’s writings on the topic of drug legalization and his efforts to end the “War on Drugs.” As a vocal advocate for drug legalization, Friedman brought the idea to the public’s attention over the course of more than three decades. His policy stance is placed in the context of his other views on public policy and his general view of the necessity of small, limited government. He showed that the costs of the war on drugs far outweigh the benefits. In particular, he highlighted all the people who are killed as innocent bystanders as a side effect of the war on drugs. We conclude that Friedman’s efforts were successful, and that he should be given credit for changing society’s view of the war on drugs and changing the policy itself.Less

Milton Friedman, Drug Legalization, and Public Policy

Mark Thornton

Published in print: 2016-06-16

This chapter discusses Milton Friedman’s writings on the topic of drug legalization and his efforts to end the “War on Drugs.” As a vocal advocate for drug legalization, Friedman brought the idea to the public’s attention over the course of more than three decades. His policy stance is placed in the context of his other views on public policy and his general view of the necessity of small, limited government. He showed that the costs of the war on drugs far outweigh the benefits. In particular, he highlighted all the people who are killed as innocent bystanders as a side effect of the war on drugs. We conclude that Friedman’s efforts were successful, and that he should be given credit for changing society’s view of the war on drugs and changing the policy itself.

Covers the rise of Ronald Reagan and a more conservative, individualistic approach to government and society that would have far-reaching effects on Charlotte schools.Explores persisting obstacles to ...
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Covers the rise of Ronald Reagan and a more conservative, individualistic approach to government and society that would have far-reaching effects on Charlotte schools.Explores persisting obstacles to racial advancement, including shifts in job markets, housing patterns and political priorities that perpetuated income and homeownership gaps into the 1980s and 1990s, and sharpened distinctions between struggling central-city neighborhoods and increasingly prosperous suburban communities. Traces the national shift in education priorities from promoting integration to a concern with test scores and an interest in "choice," which led Charlotte's business leaders to promote a desegregation plan focused around magnet schools instead of race-based busing. Examines growing concerns about the performance of African American students in desegregated schools, and about the challenges faced by young black men in urban neighborhoods. Follows the Capacchione lawsuit, which challenged the use of race in student assignment and brought an end to Charlotte's busing plan.Less

Pulling Apart

Pamela Grundy

Published in print: 2017-09-05

Covers the rise of Ronald Reagan and a more conservative, individualistic approach to government and society that would have far-reaching effects on Charlotte schools.Explores persisting obstacles to racial advancement, including shifts in job markets, housing patterns and political priorities that perpetuated income and homeownership gaps into the 1980s and 1990s, and sharpened distinctions between struggling central-city neighborhoods and increasingly prosperous suburban communities. Traces the national shift in education priorities from promoting integration to a concern with test scores and an interest in "choice," which led Charlotte's business leaders to promote a desegregation plan focused around magnet schools instead of race-based busing. Examines growing concerns about the performance of African American students in desegregated schools, and about the challenges faced by young black men in urban neighborhoods. Follows the Capacchione lawsuit, which challenged the use of race in student assignment and brought an end to Charlotte's busing plan.

The FTE sector originated in 1971 when Nixon, elected by a Southern Strategy that appealed to Southern whites, replaced Johnson’s War on Poverty with a War on Drugs. Nixon also appointed Powell to ...
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The FTE sector originated in 1971 when Nixon, elected by a Southern Strategy that appealed to Southern whites, replaced Johnson’s War on Poverty with a War on Drugs. Nixon also appointed Powell to the Supreme Court shortly after Powell wrote a secret memo to the Chamber of Commerce in 1971 calling American business to arms over a perceived threat to the business community. These coincident actions were backlashes from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and they were obscured by the economic turmoil of the 1970s. Reagan appears as the originator of neo-conservatism as he broke unions and lowered taxes even though this ideology arose a decade earlier. The Reagan tax cuts and the growth of finance led to rapidly growing incomes of rich people.Less

The FTE Sector

Peter Temin

Published in print: 2017-03-15

The FTE sector originated in 1971 when Nixon, elected by a Southern Strategy that appealed to Southern whites, replaced Johnson’s War on Poverty with a War on Drugs. Nixon also appointed Powell to the Supreme Court shortly after Powell wrote a secret memo to the Chamber of Commerce in 1971 calling American business to arms over a perceived threat to the business community. These coincident actions were backlashes from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and they were obscured by the economic turmoil of the 1970s. Reagan appears as the originator of neo-conservatism as he broke unions and lowered taxes even though this ideology arose a decade earlier. The Reagan tax cuts and the growth of finance led to rapidly growing incomes of rich people.

In this chapter I will engage a long-standing pattern of victim blaming and the challenges it poses in the twenty-first century for asserting black humanity and acquiring justice and equal treatment ...
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In this chapter I will engage a long-standing pattern of victim blaming and the challenges it poses in the twenty-first century for asserting black humanity and acquiring justice and equal treatment under the law. I will refer to this pattern of victim blaming and related forms of displacing blame for white supremacist oppression onto blacks as the “discourse of racial distraction.” Further, I will consider the ways that blacks have (unwittingly) dignified or reinforced this discourse and, conversely, the ways that blacks have successfully exposed and exploded it.Less

“We Have More to Fear than Racism that Announces Itself”: Distraction as a Strategy to Oppress

David Ikard

Published in print: 2017-10-19

In this chapter I will engage a long-standing pattern of victim blaming and the challenges it poses in the twenty-first century for asserting black humanity and acquiring justice and equal treatment under the law. I will refer to this pattern of victim blaming and related forms of displacing blame for white supremacist oppression onto blacks as the “discourse of racial distraction.” Further, I will consider the ways that blacks have (unwittingly) dignified or reinforced this discourse and, conversely, the ways that blacks have successfully exposed and exploded it.

The idea of American exceptionalism has made frequent appearances in discussions of criminal justice policies—as it has in many other areas—to help portray or explain problems that are especially ...
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The idea of American exceptionalism has made frequent appearances in discussions of criminal justice policies—as it has in many other areas—to help portray or explain problems that are especially acute in the United States, including mass incarceration, retention of the death penalty, racial and ethnic disparities in punishment, and the War on Drugs. While scholars do not universally agree that it is an apt or useful framework, there is no question that the United States is an outlier compared with other industrialized democracies in its punitive and exclusionary criminal justice policies. This book deepens the debate on American exceptionalism in crime and punishment through comparative political, economic, and historical analyses, working toward forward-looking prescriptions for American law, policy, and institutions of government. The chapters expand the existing American Exceptionalism literature to neglected areas such as community supervision, economic penalties, parole release, and collateral consequences of conviction; explore claims of causation, in particular that the history of slavery and racial inequality has been a primary driver of crime policy; examine arguments that the framework of multiple governments and localized crime control, populist style of democracy, and laissez-faire economy are implicated in problems of both crime and punishment; and assess theories that cultural values are the most salient predictors of penal severity and violent crime. The book asserts that the largest problems of crime and justice cannot be brought into focus from the perspective of a single jurisdiction and that comparative inquiries are necessary for an understanding of the current predicament in the United States.Less

American Exceptionalism in Crime and Punishment

Published in print: 2017-12-28

The idea of American exceptionalism has made frequent appearances in discussions of criminal justice policies—as it has in many other areas—to help portray or explain problems that are especially acute in the United States, including mass incarceration, retention of the death penalty, racial and ethnic disparities in punishment, and the War on Drugs. While scholars do not universally agree that it is an apt or useful framework, there is no question that the United States is an outlier compared with other industrialized democracies in its punitive and exclusionary criminal justice policies. This book deepens the debate on American exceptionalism in crime and punishment through comparative political, economic, and historical analyses, working toward forward-looking prescriptions for American law, policy, and institutions of government. The chapters expand the existing American Exceptionalism literature to neglected areas such as community supervision, economic penalties, parole release, and collateral consequences of conviction; explore claims of causation, in particular that the history of slavery and racial inequality has been a primary driver of crime policy; examine arguments that the framework of multiple governments and localized crime control, populist style of democracy, and laissez-faire economy are implicated in problems of both crime and punishment; and assess theories that cultural values are the most salient predictors of penal severity and violent crime. The book asserts that the largest problems of crime and justice cannot be brought into focus from the perspective of a single jurisdiction and that comparative inquiries are necessary for an understanding of the current predicament in the United States.

This chapter thoroughly describes the data we use to test our hypotheses. Included in that description is a discussion of the five issue areas we study: immigration, narcotics, terrorism, weapons, ...
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This chapter thoroughly describes the data we use to test our hypotheses. Included in that description is a discussion of the five issue areas we study: immigration, narcotics, terrorism, weapons, and white-collar. The chapter considers the salience and complexity of these substantive areas and characterizes partisan preferences in each as they relate to case filings and sentence length. It also explores how trends in both filings and sentencing have changed over time and provides descriptive evidence about changes in the centralization of priorities across issue areas within the DOJ. Additionally, the chapter contains an overview of the post-service careers of U.S. Attorneys (USAs).Less

Describing the Data and Issue Areas

Banks MillerBrett Curry

Published in print: 2018-12-03

This chapter thoroughly describes the data we use to test our hypotheses. Included in that description is a discussion of the five issue areas we study: immigration, narcotics, terrorism, weapons, and white-collar. The chapter considers the salience and complexity of these substantive areas and characterizes partisan preferences in each as they relate to case filings and sentence length. It also explores how trends in both filings and sentencing have changed over time and provides descriptive evidence about changes in the centralization of priorities across issue areas within the DOJ. Additionally, the chapter contains an overview of the post-service careers of U.S. Attorneys (USAs).